In the medical field, a doctor displays medical images obtained by capturing images of a patient on a monitor, interprets the displayed medical images, and observes a state or temporal change of a morbid portion. Apparatuses which generate medical images of this type include:                CR (Computed Radiography) apparatuses,        CT (Computed Tomography) apparatuses,        MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatuses, and        Ultrasound systems (US).        
For the purpose of reducing the interpretation burden placed on doctors, a medical image processing apparatus, which allows a doctor to make a computer-aided diagnosis to automatically detect a morbid portion by converting medical images into digital images and applying image analysis to these images has been developed. The term computer-aided diagnosis will be abbreviated as CAD hereinafter. CAD automatically detects abnormal shade candidates as morbid portions. In this abnormal shade detection processing, computer processing is applied to image data which expresses a radiation image to detect an abnormal mass shade that shows, for example, a cancer, a high-density microcalcification shade, or the like. By presenting this detection result, the interpretation burden placed on the doctor can be reduced, and the interpretation result accuracy can be improved.
Normally, as correct procedures in the use of CAD in an actual clinical site, the doctor first performs interpretation of images, then refers to diagnosis support information output from the CAD system, and compares that information with the interpretation result of himself or herself. More specifically, in this work, the doctor associates pieces of information of findings that has been found, included in an interpretation report written by himself or herself together with the diagnosis support information calculated by the CAD with each other, and uses such information to find oversights, detection errors, differences of findings, and the like. When the doctor interprets after he or she confirms information presented by the CAD without following the procedures, the doctor's resulting interpretation is influenced by the information presented by the CAD. In this way, when the doctor makes a diagnosis depending on the CAD information, if the CAD result includes errors or oversights, the doctor may make an incorrect decision or may not notice oversights.
Therefore, a mechanism whereby the system carries out side checks to confirm that the doctor has completed their interpretation, and presents the CAD result only when it is judged that the interpretation is complete needs to be provided. To meet this demand, patent reference 1 describes a technique which judges that interpretation is complete when the doctor makes an operation to display a screen different from images displayed at the time of interpretation or when a predetermined period of time has elapsed. According to patent reference 1, a mechanism can be provided which automatically judges whether or not interpretation by the doctor is complete, and does not allow the doctor to advance to the next step when it is judged that interpretation is incomplete.
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-167087